He Villarreal has managed to straighten its course in the Europa League after winning the Maccabi Haifa in Larnaca (Cyprus), where the war match between Israel and Hamas was played, thanks to a reaction in the last eight minutes, in which goals from Álex Baena and Alexander Sorloth allowed the Israeli team to overcome the initial goal.
José Rojo ‘Pacheta”s team was about to pay dearly once again for its defensive weakness and lack of success, since in addition to wasting several clear scoring chances, it missed two penalties, both saved by the Maccabi Haifa goalkeeper, the great protagonist of the match.
The Burgos coach introduced seven changes in his team with respect to last day’s game looking for a boost, but Villarreal had a hard time getting into the game.
Brereton Díaz, one of the most active, was the first to test Keouf’s reflexes with a tight shot that the goalkeeper reflexively cleared.
The play opened a cycle of chances for Villarreal, who lacked aim to take the lead on the scoreboard. Trigueros and again Brereton were close to scoring against a Maccabi Haifa cornered in their area.
The Israeli team knew how to survive the harassment and take advantage of the spaces left by their rival to take advantage of the attack.
Pierrot and Cornud warned Reina, who could not prevent Seck’s goal half an hour into the game, on the verge of being offside, who took advantage of poor defense by Villarreal in a dead ball action to head the ball into the net.
The goal spurred Villarreal, who responded almost immediately after an action of Breteron Díaz, who ended up being the target of a clear penalty.
Sorloth executed the maximum penalty with power and close to the post, but Keouf flew to clear the ball with a great save. However, the referee ordered the shot to be repeated due to invasion of the Maccabi defense area.
Manu Trigueros took responsibility, but his shot, on the opposite side of the first, found another great response from the Israeli goalkeeper.
He Double failure affected Villarreal, who lost precision and patience in their gamealthough the opportunities continued to arrive almost by inertia.
Sundgren, between the sticks, saved the tie when Brereton Díaz was about to push the ball into an empty goal and shortly after it was Sorloth, in an individual action, who almost equalized with a shot that went just past the top corner.
Maccabi Haifa came out of the cave in the final minutes, in which they took advantage of several set pieces to wreak chaos on Villarreal’s hesitant defense, which ended up defending the first half.
The passage through the locker room suited Villarreal, who created two new chances in two minutes through the boots of Sorloth and Mandi, aborted again by a Keouf in a state of grace.
The dominance of Pacheta’s team, now with Trigueros at the controls in the midfield and with youth player Jorge Pascual as Sorloth’s partner in attack, it was overwhelming.
Maccabi Haifa, despite surviving entrenched in their area, also knew how to wait for their moment to threaten the counterattack through Khalaili, who was close to the second with a cross shot.
The triple entry to the field of Yeremy Pino, Parejo and Álex Baena gave Pacheta’s team more possession and quality in the midfield, so the offensive monologue was even more evident.
Jorge Pascual and again Mandi, who met again with an impregnable Keouf, They almost equalized in an increasingly accelerated and disorderly attack by Villarreal.
However, eight minutes from time, a connection between Alberto Moreno and Baena allowed the midfielder to break the Israeli wall with a cross shot.
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Sorloth culminates Pacheta’s Villarreal comeback against Maccabi Haifa. #UEL #LaCasaDelFútbol pic.twitter.com/oYnVzYBWqQ
— Football on Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) November 9, 2023
The goal unleashed Villarreal, who were able to complete the comeback seconds later with a new shot from Baena, now cleared for a corner by Seck.
Pacheta’s team did not let up and a new internment by Moreno was taken advantage of by Sorloth, after a rebound from the goalkeeper, to finish the ball into the net and turn the game around.
Maccabi Haifa, exhausted after their intense defensive work, still gained strength in stoppage time to give Villarreal a couple of scares, which once again trembled in defense.
Dean David and Cornud came close to a draw that luckily did not come for Villarrealwhich with much suffering, but without clearing up doubts, manages to straighten its European course.
2023-11-09 20:19:50
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